Wonderland Drabbles
by Hatter Madigan
Summary: A series of random drabbles dealing with the characters from Looking Glass Wars. Will probably deal mostly with Molly and Hatter, but I might include other characters as well. Most drabbles will be one-shots, but I might do some two or three shots. RxR!
1. Boys

Hatter's left eye twitched as he stared at his daughter, who is stood frozen in a young boy's arms. Both teenagers look at the Millinery man with frozen, shocked expression. Wordlessly Hatter clenches his jaw, slowly pulls off his top hat, and flicks it. The two teenagers eyes widen as the top hat flattens into a spinning blade of death.

"I'll give you to the count of three to start running." Hatter grinds out through clinched teeth, his eyes narrowed. The boy's eyes bulge as he yelps and runs off down the hall.

"Onetwothree!" Hatter hisses as he starts after the boy. Molly shrieks and rockets after the two men, Homburg in hand, all while yelling at her father to stop.


	2. Lost Time

Hatter Madigan, top Milliner in all of Wonderland, previous body guard to Queen Genevieve, the first person to ever return from the Pool of Tears, could not find Homburg Molly _anywhere. _Molly was given time off by the Queen as she visited Captain Anders. It was because of this Hatter decided to see if his daughterwanted to spar. An activity he and Molly had taken up with each other. It was something that allowed Hatter to bond with his daughter in a manner that was not completely alien and awkward.

_Daughter_. The word was now foreign to Hatter. Just a few months ago it had meant nothing to him. Now it felt like it meant everything. Hatter had not known it was possible to feel so protective about someone. Granted, he had been protective of Weaver, but the way he felt about Molly was different and, in a way, even stronger. He did not know if it was because Molly was all he had left of Weaver or if it was just a part of parenthood. A subject Hatter knew almost nothing about, but had been thrown into head first, without any warning.

The Milliner let out a small, almost invisible sigh. He had no idea where Molly was and that annoyed him. He had looked high and low through out all of Molly's favorite places in Wondertropolis. He'd checked the HATBOX, parts of the Whispering Wood, all the candy shops in the city, the Palace Gardens, and still no Molly. Months ago he wouldn't have been worried, maybe wouldn't have even carried, where the teenager had gone. Now however, the urge to find his daughter was maddening. It was like the ring of an alarm clock or siren. It couldn't be ignored for long.

It was this urge that had pushed Hatter to scour the seemingly endless halls of Heart Palace for the young halfer. He was, at the moment, walking down one of the shining hallways towards the Queens chambers. When Hatter reached the door of the Queen's room and heard slight sounds from inside he froze. Knowing for a fact that the Queen was out in the garden, and that it could not be her in the room, Hatter quickly and silently plucked his top hat off his head an flicked it.

The Hat flattened silently to reveal a circle of gleaming blades. Slowly Hatter cracked open the door to see who was inside the room, ready to spring forward and cut down any threat presented. However, Hatter was not ready for what he saw.

Inside the room stood Molly, his _daughter_, dressed in a floor length blue ball-gown, with no Hat or weapon present. Looking around Hatter saw the girls clothes stacked neatly on one of the many plush couches. Quickly registering this his eyes went back to his daughter. When he looked closer he became aware of several things.

One) the dress his daughter was wearing was too big. It was a too long and too loose in the top. Two) The dress Molly wore was in fact Queen Alyss'. He could see the closet from where she had gotten the dress standing open, revealing many other ball-gowns. Three) He had never seen his daughter in anything other than her Millinery uniform. It was this fact that had Hatter's eyes glued to his daughter, who stood in front of a looking glass examining herself.

Unaware she was being observed, Molly tilted her head to the side, looking at her reflection. Her hair, which had grown several inches the last few months, shifted with the movement. On her face was a soft expression Hatter couldn't identify. It surprised him when Molly suddenly twirled around, causing the dress to flower out around her ankles, before she came to a stop a few feet away from the looking glass. She smiled at her reflection slightly before she spoke.

"Why yes, I would love to dance with you!" the girl chirped before giggling and spinning again. When she came to a stop next to the couch holding her clothes she was still giggling. Then she ceased, catching sight of her Hat, before smirking. In a flash the girl grabbed up her Homburg, flicked it, and twirled back to her looking glass self, teeth bared.

"Bring it on Redd!" Molly growled before posing as if she were going to throw her Hat at the figure in the looking glass. She held this pose for a moment before dissolving into another fit of giggles. Slowly Molly composed herself; then she got a look at the clock.

"Oh crap, she said, "Alyss will be back any minute." It was with these words that Molly snapped her Hat back into it's Homburg shape, and in essence, snapped back from average teenager to Queen's bodyguard. She quickly grabbed her clothes.

Hatter, who had been frozen the whole time, also snapped back into reality. He knew it was time to go. Silently he closed the door to the Queen's Room and flicked his hat back into it's original form, placing it snuggly on his head. As he began to stealthily walk down the hall he played the image of what he had just seen over in his mind.

Hatter had not been there when Molly was born. He was not there for her first words, her first steps, or her first anything. He was not there when she lost her mother or when she had been entirely alone in the world. The Milliner Man had not been there for Molly as a little girl.

And now Molly's childhood was waning, disappearing before his very eyes. She was, in age, a teenager. But, fortunately for Hatter, there were a few scraps left of childhood in Molly. The scene he had just observed, a girl's pretending in a barrowed dress, was proof. However much she hated it, Molly wasn't quite an adult yet, and those who looked could see it. Hatter wasn't going to let time trick him again. He may have not been there for Molly for a lot of thing, but he was here now. And he sure as hell wasn't going anywhere.

True, he wasn't good at expressing his emotions or comforting teenage girls, but he was going to hang onto every memory he had of Molly for as long as possible. He was going to be there for Molly until the end of his life. So the Milliner walked away, cementing the precious piece, one of the last pieces, of Molly's childhood into his mind. He had a lot of time to make up for.


	3. Secret

Molly stared at her reflection in the looking glass. She had just gotten out of the shower and was dressed in a thin, white night gown; her hair was still damp and crumpled. She stared intently at her glass and light twin, studing the curve of her eyes, the slope of her nose, the angle of her jaw, the quirks in her mouth. She liked her lips. They were perfectly balanced, smooth, and shaped like little bows. Her lips were pretty.

Not that she was ever considered ugly by others. She could see how would be considered pretty. Maybe even beautiful when she got older. But trying to gauge her looks wasn't why she was looking at her reflection. No she was trying to find _him _in herself. Her father, Hatter Madigan, in her own face. And the strangest part was, that she could _see_ him.

True, she had her mothers lips and bone shape. Deceivingly soft and delicate, with high cheek bones, and a button nose. Yes, those definitely belonged to her mother, compared to her fathers strong, hard bones. But in her expression she could see her father.

It wasn't often that Hatter Madigan showed his expression. His entire life had been known for not only his amazing fighting abilities, but the ability to remain perfectly stoic during a battle as well. But, unlike others, Molly had seen Hatter express emotion.

It happened when they sparred. An activity they had both taken up with each other. When they sparred Hatter showed emotion. Abate it wasn't exactly noticeable, but it was there.

When she first started sparring with him, the first time he had drawn blood from her on accident, his eyes had widen in panic. He had stamped it down quickly, but she still saw it.

When she was able to get through Hatter's defense for the first time, she had seen him with a surprised look. He had stamped that down too, but she still saw.

When she was able to block an attack from her father or pull off a complicated maneuver, he smiled. Just a little bit, a lifting at the corner of his lips. This was her favorite. Not only because she could see what her mother had seen in her father so long ago, but because he didn't try to hide this expression from her. He gave the smiles to her freely. And she cherished each one.

It was after she got her first smile from him that she started looking for him in herself. And she found him. In her eyes at first. She had the same dark drown eyes as her father. They were the same narrow shape as well. She could see him when she furrowed her brow just slightly, as she had seen him do before.

However it was when she smiled, just a little quirk of her lips, that she saw the most of him. She could proudly say she had Hatter Madigan's, _her father's_, smile. And she smiled all the more when she told people, and they didn't believe her. Because that meant she and her dad, had their very own secret.


	4. Family

-1Molly stood before the memorial of her mother, grown from the seed of a Hereafter plant, in the almost absolute darkness. The sky was illuminated by only a sharp scythe shaped sliver of moon. Molly and her father's return to the palace from Talon's Point two months ago. The Queen had allowed Weaver's body to be buried in one of the quite niches of the palace gardens. And this was why Molly was able to walk out of the palace every night and stand in front of the gave of her mother.

Sluggishly, Molly studied the bouquet that from the likeness of her mother perfectly, comparing the faux Weaver's features to those of the real Weaver. Features she had memorized perfectly, despite only having seen her mother's image from a holographic crystal and a few times during captivity.

Blue hyacinths made up the curves of her mother's eyes, peach colored roses built her face, arm, and hands, strands of honey suckle made up what was suppose to be her golden hair. Molly hated it. It mocked her.

Hereafter seeds were the only plants that grew flowers that didn't sing or talk or even move. They stood perfectly still at all times. This meant the monument was always fixed, frozen in time. A never changing testament to her failure to save her own mother.

Molly felt the tears on her face before she realized her sight was blurring. They came fast and silent as they always did, clogging up her throat that she couldn't utter a single sound. Molly hated crying.

She had learned a long time ago it didn't do any help to cry. But she couldn't help it. Every night she came out and stood in front of Weaver's grave, she cried.

_It not fair_. This was all Molly could think of. _I had just gotten her back. _Angrily she barred her teeth to stop her face from crumpling. She was sick of crying. Sick of coming out to the garden every night to stare at an unmoving shrub. She hated that stupid bouquet. She hated being reminded how she had failed. Hated being reminded that she was just a stupid _halfer. _

Impulsively Molly raised her wrist, propeller-blades spinning to life, and swung blindly at the Hereafter plant. She waited for the feel of her blades chopping through plant. It never came. Instead her arm met a solid resistance with a clang. Shocked she turned her head towards the obstruction. She was surprised to find the arm of another person, holding back her blades with metal bracelets of their own.

Molly's bracelets deactivated, her arm falling limply to her side, as she followed the path of the arm up to a shoulder, covered by a dark Millinery coat, to the face of the person before her. The face of other than her father.

There was a second of silence, that seemed to stretch on and on where the two Milliner's just stared at each other. Then, with all the grace of a shattering looking glass, Molly's face crumbled and she let out a thick sob, hunching over as if she had been kicked in the stomach.

Wordlessly Hatter pulled his daughter towards him, carefully wrapping his arms around her, just as he did at Talon's Point that horrid day, and became the father his daughter needed, instead of a soldier. Molly continued to cry, grabbing onto the front of her father's coat, before she mumbled the word "Daddy." A word she had never used in her thirteen years of life.

Hatter said, nothing, but instead carefully stroked his daughters short blonde hair. Something she had inherited from her mother. They remained like this for several minutes before Hatter broke the silence.

"Let's go back, Molly." And with that, he carefully untangled his daughter from his coat, keeping a hand on her back, and lead his exhausted daughter into the palace. Not as a teacher and student, master and apprentice, or comrades, or even friends, but as a family.


End file.
